Gold-washer



Unirse STATES JOHN P. SPENCER, OF SOUTH PUEBLO, COLORADO.

@PATENT OFFICE.

GOLD-WASH ER.

SEEGIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 272,788, dated February 20, 1883. v

- Applicationfiled September30,l882. (Nomodel.) I l To urli whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, JOHN P. SPENCER, a citizen of the United States, residing at South Pueblo, in the county ot' Pueblo and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements i-n Goldwashers, of which the following is a specitication, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention has relation to gold-washers; and it consists in the construction and arrangement ot' its several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of my washer, and Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the same.

A represents the box or frame to which the operating parts of the machine are se cured, as shown. Secured across the sides of the upper portion of the frame is an inclined board, d, between the lower end ot' which and the end of the frame is a space sufficiently wide for the passage ot' sand, Svc., into the tank.

At thetop of the frame, and sliding on ways, (not shown,) is a reciprocating sieve, B, which inclines in the opposite direction from that of the board a. From the front end ot' the sieve depends an arm, b, to the lower end ot' which is pivoted the rod b', said rod having its opposite end journaled on the actuating-shaft O, which revolves between the arms c, attached to the sides of and projecting from the ends of the frame, as shown.

D is the tank in which the sand is Washed. It slides upon the bottom of the frame, and its rear end is cut away at d2 to permit the escape of surplus'water andgravel and the removal of the agitator-shaft. The bottom of the tank is made laterally semicircular, in order that the same be made to move readily to gravitate toward the rear end by the action of the agitators.--

Pivotedto a suitable projection, d, on the upper portion of the front end of the box is a connecting-rod, d', the opposite end of which is journaled to the crank-shaft, whereby motion is transmitted to the tank.

Journaled between the ends of the frame A', which is secured to the sides of the box, as shown, and passing through the tank, is the agitator-shaft E, from which project the agitators e'. Upon the front end of the shaft is secured a pulley, F, which communicates, by a belt or chain, H, with a pulley, G. on the shaft O, as shown, so that when the shaft is revolved motongis transmitted to the shaft E.

In the operation of the washer the actuating-shaft O is turned by the crank I, or by suitable connections.

The sieve B is reciprocated by the rod b', the tank D by the rodl d', and the agitator-shaft revolved by means ofthe pulleys F and G and the chain H.

1t is well known among miners that gold' washing machines are only used to wash the sand along river-bo'ttoms and from the beds of small streams, and that consequently the sand contains more or less water. The wet sand is dumped onto the sieve, and thelumps too coarse to pass through the meshes are.

shaken over the rear of the machine. The sand which passes through the meshes of the sieve is washed down the inclined board a by the Water which drips onto it from the sand in the sieve B, situated above the board, and falls over the edge of said board to the bottom of the tank. lhe revolving agitalors are inclined, so as to carry the sand toward the rear end of the tank and thoroughly mix or stir it, so that the gold contained therein gravitates toward the bottom, where it is seized upon and held by quicksilver placed in the tank. The surplus sand is carried out through the opening d2 in the rear end ofthe tank.

1. In a gold-washing machine, the combination of a reciprocating sieve, an inclined board, a reciprocating tank, an agitator-shaft provided with suitably-arranged agitators,'an actuating shatt, and mechanism arranged thereon for reciprocating the sieve and tank and revolving the agitator-shaft, all arranged to operate substantially as shown and described'.

2. The combination, in a gold-washing machine, with the box A, and the Aframe A', ot' a reciprocating tank, actuating-shaft, a rod for 2 Y @fa/23g@ connecting said tank and Shaft, au agitator- In testimony whereof I affix my siguatur in shaft having suitably-arranged agitators, said presence of two Witnesses. shaft; being jouruzilell in the fram@ secured around the box A, and having a. pulley com- JOHN P. SPENCER. 5 munie/ating by a. belt or chain with apulley on the actuating-shaft, whereby the shnf'f aud ag'- Witmsses: tatorsarereiiolved,substantiallyas shown and B. W. GENNET, ff

described. E. R. MCBRIDE. 

